Saturday, May 19, 2012

Last week I had the opportunity to attend Grandparents Day for one of my grand children. The kids closed the event in the gymnasium by singing, with gusto, "My Country 'Tis of Thee".

Samuel Francis Smith wrote the lyrics to "My Country, 'Tis of Thee" in 1831, and the song served as a de facto national anthem of the United States before the adoption of The Star Spangled Banner as the official anthem.

The words go like this...

"My country, 'tis of thee,

Sweet land of liberty,

Of thee I sing;

Land where my fathers died,

Land of the pilgrims' pride,

From every mountainside

Let freedom ring!"

The song ended with the kids beaming with patriotism with the words "Let freedom ring". With the words still ringing off the gymnasium walls I thought about what those words actually meant..."let freedom ring".

I was struck by how few countries in the history of our world have actually accomplished a true freedom and liberty for its people. For a moment I was deeply humbled and grateful for the opportunity to live in a country where our freedoms and our liberties are actually protected by law.

As I went about the rest of my day I couldn't get those words out of my mind..."let freedom ring".

A country that is truly grounded in freedom and the protection of liberty for its people does not allow black-and-white extremism and the radical ideologies of political extremists to enter its main stream political system.

There will always be extremists in a democratic country that allows freedom of speech, but when those extremists are allowed to become part of the political governing body of a country, it almost always results in the Hitlers and Mussolini's of the world removing the freedoms and liberties of the people who voted them into office.

History is full of examples of how easily a totalitarian government can come into power and mute the ring of freedom for its people.

The Nazi movement did not suddenly spring into power in German politics overnight...it was an extremist totalitarian movement that relied on the growing support of the German citizens.

A democratic government protects the freedom of speech but it holds a very high standard of truth and accuracy in its news media so its people can make informed political and economic decisions.

Totalitarian governments rely on the ability to lie and distort the truth so they can inflame the emotions of the people and blind them to the truth.

I have had a growing concern that our country is encouraging and allowing dangerous political extremists to enter our mainline political system. When our news media is allowed to knowingly report lies and intentional distortions as "truth", when political extremists are allowed to publicly malign the character of those who disagree with them in the news media, our country is headed in a very dangerous direction.

An intentional distortion of the facts is called a lie in my home.

Allowing anyone to publicly maligning the character and integrity of someone simply because they disagree with you is a dangerous violation of that person's right to free speech and their personal liberties. In my home I call such behavior abusive.

Unfortunately, I see this kind of behavior growing. It is virtually impossible to know any more what is truth and what is an intentional distortion or an intentional lie in our news media coverage.

A morally credible news media reports facts to the best of their ability. They hold themselves to a very high ethical standard. Especially when reporting political news when our country is entering an important election.

I would like the next generation of children to sing the words "let freedom ring" knowing that they are living in a country that honors that concept.

Our political process is in a shambles, extreme political ideologies are rampant in Washington, and our news media is leading the ideological charge that threatens to silence the "ring of freedom".

Allowing extremism in a country's mainline political system, and allowing a country's new media to lower their ethical standards in what they report as "truth", is a very dangerous path for any nation that wants "freedom to ring".

Wednesday, May 16, 2012

A lot of concerned citizens seem to be interested in US politics. With this statement said, you will surely want a venue to discuss US local news for this news category. Well, you know very well that you cannot start a discussion through newspapers. Some news programs on TV may allow you to voice out your opinions but airtime may not be enough for you to express what is inside your mind. Your option then is to take things a notch higher. Meaning, you should use modern tools like the Internet.

The Internet is gifted with news aggregation sites. The main purpose of these sites is to collate thousands of news coming from online newspapers and magazines. From there, you can access the latest in US politics (or other news categories) without a sweat.

Discussing US politics through the Internet: What's the difference?

As mentioned awhile back, you cannot express your thoughts about US politics through newspapers (unless you are a writer in that paper's editorial section). In the case of news programs airing on TV, time is limited to express your opinions on certain matters as well. That is not the same case when you use the Internet.

News aggregation sites allow you to voice out your opinions and discuss your thoughts with other members of the site's community. In this regard, there is a thread of information flowing from you to other people visiting the news site of your choice. You can begin local discussions or if you want you can express your thoughts on matters raised by other readers of US political news within the site.

In this case, you are given a chance to be more open about matters that affect the state or the city you are in. You can voice out your opinions without hesitation. Who knows this will reach authorities as well?

US local news online will definitely be a good medium to express your thoughts regarding US politics. Listen to what others say as they also listen to the message you are conveying.

Saturday, May 12, 2012

Medicare from the government will be given for those who are 65 or older. It is a kind of health insurance that needs several requirements in order to get it. There are two kinds of Medicare that can be chosen by the patients in which each type of care has its own requirements that should be fulfilled. Those two kinds of Medicare are Medicare Part A, Medicare Part B and Medicare Advantage (Medicare Part C) and Medicare Part D for drug prescription and Medicare Supplement for Medigap. Medicare is not owned by each country in the world but some countries in the United States such as Arizona, Illinois and Texas have Medicare.

Why people need Medicare in their live? It is because when they are old they can check their health regularly in Medicare and when there is an illness in their body, they can utilize Medicare to help them healing their illness. The insurance provided by Medicare is obtained from the workers and the employers of Medicare who pay tax. So, their payroll taxes will be cut in certain percent to be used to finance the Medicare insurance. Why they do that? They realize that the health of every individual is very vital although they have already in their old time.